I thought it was just a little cold. No big deal. We’d be a bit uncomfortable for a few days and then we’d be back on our feet. But, let me tell you, that cold kicked my butt. Sometimes the most I could do was to walk from our bed to the couch downstairs. Ugh. Maybe if we’d been able to rest more when it first hit our colds wouldn’t have gotten so bad, but we were both so grateful our colds came at the very end of our market season. Luckily Jeff was a few days ahead of me so he was able to keep things afloat around the house on the days I felt the worst. He kept the wood stove going, always having the house warm for us, and cooked every meal. There’s been lots of tea and soup around here, thanks to him.

Today I feel like I am just barely functioning like a normal human again. Bracken has a bit of the cold now and so far it seems pretty mild so I’m hoping it will pass him by more easily. We’ve been home resting and making naps a priority, to help make that happen. (Plus lots of elderberry tea and loads of garlic in everything.) This morning I made a little laundry progress and started tidying up a bit, which felt so good to do. It’s sort of funny how happy you feel after being sick to be able to do the simplest things like dishes again, isn’t it? Oh, dishes, oh, laundry, how I’ve missed you! But seriously, it’s really nice to be on my feet again. I took down our Christmas tree. It was time. I think Bracken would have been happy to keep it there all winter, but it was drying up and ready to go.

On one of my worst feeling days, Bracken complained that he was bored and I didn’t blame him. With not much mental energy or any other energy for that matter, I was so glad for the idea that popped into my head. When my sister and I were little and wanted to do art projects, my mom would spread a towel out on the floor and art supplies and let us at it. So I grabbed a towel and brought out Bracken’s watercolors. It kept him happy for a little while and gave him another option of something he could do while mom laid on the couch.

I grabbed my camera this morning and looked past the piles of tissues, messes, and things I still had yet to clean and pick up. And two things looked beautiful to me today: tea and watercolors. I took a picture of the sunflower mug my mom brought me from her trip to Europe, filled with the tea that Jeff made for us. Then Bracken came over, always watchful of what I’m photographing, and clasped his little hand around the handle to take a drink. I loved the picture with his hand and the spilled tea in it so much more.